Source: Taylor Knopf, NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH NEWS, 11/15/21


The 10 behavioral health beds at Cannon Memorial Hospital near the western edge of the state are almost always full. Meanwhile, more patients struggling with mental health issues end up waiting in the hospital’s emergency department to be admitted or sent somewhere else for psychiatric care.  The small psychiatric unit at the Avery County hospital has received more than 5,000 patient referrals from across the state each year, but could only admit about 11 percent of those patients.

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